#TeachersAreProfessionals: Campaign Launch

Stop paying out-of-pocket.

We decided that enough is enough and, in partnership with educators, we started a movement, #TeachersAreProfessionals... a drive to empower educators, support them as the professionals they are, and help them bring valuable resources to their classrooms. Over the last year, we have been working closely with Alice Keeler on formalizing and finalizing the initial stages of the #TeachersAreProfessionals Campaign. We are excited to announce that we are finally ready to launch the first phase to the over 10,000 educators who have responded nationwide.

You will need to click here to create a fundraising page for yourself under TAP. The first 1,000 pages created will receive a code to order free business cards from our partners at VistaPrint!

Once your page is live, you will be able to share it and raise awareness and funds.

We will be providing flash funding and matching opportunities for pages throughout the campaign to some lucky educators who are actively sharing.

Once funds are raised and your page is complete, you will have the option on how you'd like to receive your funds: An Amazon e-gift card, 1 Year discounted access to Screencastify, 1 Year discounted access to Formative, or a PD Book from David Burgess Publishing.

So, your next steps are to create your fundraising page (this will take you seconds, literally...here is an example of what it will look like) and begin sharing your page! Once you get your page started, you will receive an email from our co-founder Andyshea Saberioon to officially welcome you to Phase 1 of #TeachersAreProfessionals! If you are one of the first 1,000 educators to create a page, then you will also receive the code for your business cards.

We're super excited to move forward alongside Alice Keeler with #TeachersAreProfessionals and are thrilled to finally share this news with you! As always, reach out to us with any questions (info@pledgecents.com)!

While we are in the business of helping educators crowdfund to offset additional costs, we also can't help but to be enraged by the lack of respect for those who dedicate themselves to the field of education. We've heard from thousands of teachers and over 80% of them are paying more than $250 a year out of pocket. More than 30% are paying between $500 and $2,000. On top of the hundreds of dollars educators spend out of pocket, add in the cost of EdTech tools and that price will soar even higher.

Together, let’s change the culture around teachers paying out of pocket.

We already know that most teachers pay out of pocket every year for their classroom, and this tells us these expenses are not wants but needs. Teachers NEED unrestricted funding each year to make their classrooms the best learning environments for their students. We want to help you with this. We want to help you with funds to spend on your classroom: NO RECEIPTS. We trust you with our kids, we can trust you with spending on your classroom. We want you to choose the EdTech tools you want to use. Research shows that technology provides no significant difference in learning when we use it the same way we were using non digital tools. To make a real impact the technology has to be used in an innovative way by a passionate teacher. No product is a magic bullet, the magic bullet is YOU the teacher.

"High quality products require talented people to create, market, sell, maintain, and provide professional development around. Unless you are a billion dollar company that can afford to spend millions on giving away EdTech to schools, free is not a business model." - via Alice Keeler @alicekeeler

It's not that EdTech companies are being stingy, but rather that educators are not provided the appropriate funds to maintain their products and subscriptions. In addition, many of the great EdTech companies are struggling to stay in business due to educators not being able to afford their products! The #TeachersAreProfessionals movement will work with EdTech companies in various ways to provide and maintain a more affordable way for educators to access and use these valuable tools.

Educators are professionals and are qualified in the art of teaching. How many professionals do you know of, aside from independent contractors, that pay for their own supplies - the supplies necessary to complete their job? Unfortunately, we know many educators who struggle to acquire the materials they need. Together, let’s change the culture around teachers paying out of pocket.

As always, if you have any questions, email us at info@pledgecents.com or reach out to use on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram!